French PM wraps up official visit to VN

Nguyen Xuan Phuc (right) shakes hands with French PM Édouard Philippe, Ha Noi - Photo: VNA

During the official visit to Viet Nam, PM Edouard Philippe held talks with PM Phuc and paid a courtesy visit to General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and President Nguyen Phu Trong.

He also met with Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, Secretary of the Party Committee of Ho Chi Minh City Nguyen Thien Nhan and Chairman of the Ha Noi People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung. 

The PM visited the Presidential Palace relic site and attended a ceremony to inaugurate a new facility of France's International School Alexandre Yersin in Ha Noi. 

He also visited the A1 Hill relic site and laid a wreath at the Dien Bien Phu martyrs’ cemetery in the northern mountainous province of Dien Bien, and attended ceremonies to inaugurate the French medical centre and open the France-Vietnam technological business forum in HCM City. 

In the spirit of mutual understanding and trust, both sides discussed measures to bolster their bilateral ties and international and regional issues of mutual interests. They affirmed their determination to boost ties after five years of signing the Viet Nam-France Strategic Partnership (2013-2018) and 45 years of diplomatic relations.

Both sides agreed to boost cooperation to develop e-government and modernizing state administrative management - a new cooperation field full of prospects. They were unanimous in promoting cooperation in culture, and join hands to ensure the successful organization of the 11th conference on cooperation between Vietnamese and French localities slated for April 2019 in Toulouse. 

In addition, they agreed to enhance coordination at multilateral forums like the United Nations (UN) and the Francophonie, while continuing to support each other in developing relations between France and Asian-Pacific countries and between Viet Nam and the EU. 

The two sides agreed to increase meetings at all levels, while upholding the role of bilateral coordination and cooperation mechanisms in the fields of politics, economy, defense, science-technology, culture, and education-training. 

They stressed the necessity to encourage their enterprises to foster business and investment connection in fields of French strength and Viet Nam’s demand such as infrastructure development, energy, aerospace, health, science-technology, communication, climate change adaptation and smart city development. 

They affirmed that economic cooperation would continue to be a priority pillar in their bilateral relations, stressing that it is necessary to foster cooperation and accelerate the implementation of key cooperation projects and accelerate the Viet Nam-European Union ties.  

On the occasion, the two PMs witnessed the signing of cooperation agreements between the nations across fields, including those in training, e-Government development, health care, climate change adaptation, and environmental protection, provision of Airbus aircraft, urban management and energy./.

By Khanh Phuong